Apart from running Puppy Linux from a full hard disk drive (H.D.D.) installation or from a LiveDVD, it is also possible to run it as a frugal installation, performed by extracting the contents of the container ISO or ZIP file to virtually any type of FAT32, NTFS, or EXT2/3/4 formatted partition.

When a frugal installation is desired it is convenient to have a LiveDVD because it can be used to install the required boot loader (either GRUB, SYSLINUX, or EXTLINUX depending on the formatting of the installation partition). Instructions are also provided below for situations when not using an optical drive.

Copy the files vmlinuz, initrd.gz, *.sfs, and isolinux.cfg to the partition

Rename isolinux.cfg to syslinux.cfg

Edit syslinux.cfg in a text editor: change pmedia=cd to pmedia=usbflash

Reboot computer with U.S.B. flash drive connected

From within Microsoft Windows

Format the drive/partition to FAT32

Extract the contents of the Puppy iso (or zip) file to the partition, using e.g. 7-zip, (it is important that the original file names be kept)

Delete isolinux.bin

Rename isolinux.cfg to syslinux.cfg

Edit syslinux.cfg in a text editor: change pmedia=cd to pmedia=usbflash

Download and extract syslinux to a folder, e.g. C:/syslinux. Then go to C:/syslinux/win32/ and run this command to make the drive bootable (where X: is the drive letter for the target drive/partition):